Dubai to have new comprehensive navigation system

Lootah said that the civic body is keen to provide the most advanced technologies and facilities to the people who live in the emirate of Dubai in line with the ambitions of the wise leadership of the emirate aiming at reaching the top of sustainable cities in the world.

"The NCG system will be fully functioning in the first half of 2013 and will be updated as much as possible as per the requirement from the individuals and companies. GIS Department in collaboration with Garmin will distribute a special location number and barcode to each and every place and building in the emirate to identify the desired location with a single click on any smart phone, navigator or computer," Lootah said.

Eng. Abdul Hakim Malik, Director GIS Department said this strategic project is aimed to help and support all government organizations, companies, residents and tourists with different nationalities and languages to locate and reach any place in Dubai easily using digital maps available on smart mobiles, tablet PCs, notebooks, and navigation devices.

"This will be achieved by creating a national coordinate grid on a digital map, developing applications and fixing plates that carries location information on all the buildings in Dubai. All types if buildings will be covered like government organizations, hospitals, parks, commercial buildings, houses, factories, warehouses, etc," Malik said.

"This system will also strengthen the position of Dubai to host Expo 20/20 because it will help people from different nationalities and languages to navigate and reach any location in Dubai easily," he hoped.

"The system is minutely accurate comparing to other navigation systems to the extent that every one with a smart device can identify the exact place in meters," he explained.

"Currently we have developed a web application to give an idea about this system. The URL is, mylocation.ae," he added.

Eng. Lootah for DM and Abdul Aziz Abdullah for Garmin have signed a MoU regarding the project implementation and Lootah hoped it to be a long fruitful collaboration.